Able Danger

Recognized by Congressional Quarterly as one of the “Fifty Most Effective Members of Congress,” Curt Weldon devoted more than thirty years to public service as an elected mayor, county chair, public educator, corporate risk management leader, lifelong volunteer firefighter/fire chief, and twenty-year Member of Congress. In 2007, President George H. W. Bush honored Weldon with a Personal Tribute before more than 2,000 leaders in Washington, DC.A passionate advocate for America’s firefighters and EMS professionals, Weldon founded and chaired the 370-member Congressional Fire Services Caucus and responded on scene to major US disasters, including the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the attacks of September 11, 2001, working directly with FDNY leadership.As vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and chairman overseeing Department of Defense research, development, and intelligence funding, Weldon challenged politicized intelligence and proposed a National Intelligence Fusion capability known as NOAH two years before 9/11, though the initiative was blocked following CIA objections. His humanitarian, national security, and international peace efforts earned worldwide recognition, including the prestigious GUSI Peace Prize and numerous international honors.Weldon is the author of Awakening the Sleeping Giant: The Political Empowerment of America’s Heroes, which is the subject of a documentary film to be previewed at the White House FIRE/EMS 290 event in September 2026. He is also the author of Countdown to Terror: The Top-Secret Information That Could Prevent the Next Terrorist Attack on America—and How the CIA Has Ignored It.

“Former Congressman Curt Weldon is as courageous as he is determined. His exposure of the truths surrounding 9/11 and many other critical events leading up to the seminal and destructive attacks against the United States of America went unheeded, and Curt was politically punished for being one of the foremost truth tellers in America. Government leaders should have listened to Curt when he initially came forward with his evidence. What America continues to face is the undermining and overthrow of our democracy by subversive deep-state elements fully committed to destroying our constitutional republic. Curt’s legacy will stand the test of time as more and more evidence comes out every day. Curt is also a testament to the phrase “first responder.” He is the epitome of one who runs into the flames while others cower due to fear. Curt lives the phrase “bravery under fire.”—Michael Flynn, Lt. General US Army (ret), former Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and National Security Advisor “This is a very important book that tells the truth about the events surrounding 9/11. Congressman Weldon was at the center of the formation of the Gilmore Commission that warned of the danger before the 9/11 attacks. Further, this book exposes the terrible diplomatic errors that led to the US-Russian breach during the Balkan wars, which draws a straight line to today’s war in Ukraine. This book should be read by everyone who cares about the future safety of America.”—James S. Gilmore III, Chairman of the Gilmore Commission, former Governor of Virginia, and former Chair of the Republican National Committee“Curt Weldon has written the definitive book on 9/11 that tells the truth in a way that hurts. It hurts because it shows that a few individuals were able to pull off a conspiracy against the American people. They chose to encourage the 9/11 Commission to tell the truth but not the whole truth. Readers will find definitive proof of a cover-up where former government officials and certain 9/11 Commission staff conspired to hide the truth to protect their reputations and those of other very senior government officials.” —Christopher M. Lehman, PhD, former Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs“Two of the most consequential and suppressed intelligence programs in modern American history, the Pentagon’s Able Danger and the NSA’s ThinThread, together form a devastating indictment of institutional failure before September 11, 2001, and could have prevented the 9/11 attacks. Curt Weldon's extraordinary book, Able Danger, forces a long overdue reckoning as this classified SOCOM/DIA data-mining operation had, by early 2000, identified Mohamed Atta by name and mapped his Brooklyn-based al-Qaeda cell. Yet Pentagon lawyers, citing rules governing military intelligence activities on “US Persons,” blocked Able Danger analysts from sharing that information with the FBI and then ordered the data destroyed, with Army intelligence chief Erik Kleinsmith later recalling the chilling instruction to “delete the data or you'll go to jail.” When Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer tried to bring those findings to the 9/11 Commission, he was silenced, his security clearance revoked, and his subsequent book, Operation Dark Heart, that referenced the program, was literally pulped and some 9,500 copies destroyed by the Pentagon before publication.”—Thomas Drake, NSA Senior Executive and Executive Program Manager for ThinThread“Able Danger showed the US intelligence community the model of how combining the right data, tools, people, and processes can be more effective than entire three-letter agencies in identifying national security threats. Using cutting-edge data mining and visualization tools, our team was able to map out the entire Al Qaeda terror network, identifying key locations and actors leading up to the worst terror attack in US history. Congressman Weldon was one of the few leaders who understood our capabilities as a path toward a future intelligence community in direct support of the warfighter. Curt’s perspective, outlined in this work, offers a wholly different perspective into the same struggles our team faced in refuting the prevailing theme that US intelligence never did or could connect the dots required to thwart such a deadly foe. We did and were shut down before we could act.”—Erik Kleinsmith, former Chief of Intelligence, US Army Land Information Warfare Activity (LIWA)“The cutting edge is a lonely place to be . . . and that is where the Able Danger team was. 1999—with global terrorism on the rise; US forces being the target; and the need to detect, map, prevent, and prevail against radical Islam being the overall commander’s intent. While living in legally gray areas, the team worked to combine new technologies, for both analysis and weaponization against enemies, in support of the first ever effort of Special Operations Command (SOCOM) to pursue a strategic threat as the lead command.The gray areas of then, have become black and white operational boundaries of today. The outcome of Able Danger was to establish a format for combating global threats that has endured and continues to be the format for success. The result was the use of the Able Danger planning to pursue Al Qaeda globally to kill, capture, or eliminate their leadership. The failure of Able Danger to prevent the 9/11 attacks was due to being overcome by an intrenched bureaucracy of failure, that was either complicit or stupid, that ignored and prevented the Able Danger team and SOCOM as a command from taking any action to stop the known terrorists from committing the 9/11 attacks.History and the American people are owed a full accounting of why, the most significant combination of new technology, techniques, and procedures were ignored before the 9/11 attack and was covered up by the 9/11 Commission, and why the team as individuals were targeted for retaliation by Pentagon leaderships when the investigation of the Pentagon failures were reported. Evidence of the existence and impact of the Able Danger team’s work was destroyed and buried. It’s time to reexamine the operation and hold accountable those who covered up and have avoided accountability for the 9/11 attacks.”—Tony Shaffer, Director of Special Mission Task Force Stratus Ivy“Congressman Curt Weldon is a principled patriot and visionary who has always protected US national security and fought for what he believes is right no matter who the opponent. While in Congress, Curt forced the Pentagon against its opposition to build the US Marine Osprey tiltrotor aircraft. Curt also was a driving force to overcome misguided critics and secure essential funding for missile defense systems that now protect the US and its allies. And as a freshman member of the minority political party, Curt forced the US House of Representatives to go on record with a unanimous vote declaring that the Soviet Krasnoyarsk radar was a violation of the ABM Treaty. Curt was so widely respected that he was selected to serve as vice chair of both the Armed Services and Intelligence Committee thus placing him in a position to provide significant first-hand insights into the events surrounding September 11, 2001.”—Bruce Weinrod, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for European and NATO Policy and Defense Advisor to the US Mission at NATO“Personally, I had family in the city working at WTC and my physician-sister worked herself to exhaustion searching for DNA among the remains. In Virginia, I was proud to support our firemen and first responders in the Pentagon parking lot—I remember the sky was so blue on such an awful day. Professionally, I remain puzzled by my government’s reaction. I led the analysis before 9/11 and the post-attack military response analytic effort. Our Able Danger team knew many things; we tried to warn our leaders. Kudos to the US SOCOM for trying to keep data safe and planning alive when the Pentagon was busy issuing gag orders and destruction mandates.”—Eileen “Rainmaker” Preisser, Director of Air Force GEOINT Office and former LIWA Senior Scientist “A debt that can never be repaid.” —Hal Bruno, Journalist, Political Director of ABC News, and Volunteer Firefighter“It’s the goal of every political leader who is blessed with the opportunity to serve the public, to leave behind a legacy—a legacy that in some way makes our nation stronger, better, and safer. Curt, you’ve done just that through your dedication and your commitment to our nation’s 1 million first responders.”—President George H. W. Bush, DC national live tribute – March 29, 2007